Frank Lloyd Wright House Being Reassembled In NW Arkansas After Move

Assistant University of Arkansas Professor Santiago Perez and his team construct a viewing pavilion leading up to the house.

Credit Jacqueline Froelich / KUAF News

Almost a year ago, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville announced it had acquired a house designed by noted American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The building, which was carefully deconstructed at its original site in New Jersey and shipped to Arkansas, is being reassembled on the museum’s grounds.

In 1954, the famous American architect, at the age of 87, designed the home for Mr. and Mrs. Bachman-Wilson along the banks of the Millstone River, in Somerset County, New Jersey. The modest structure which had been painstakingly restored in recent years, had become subject to intermittent flooding, so was placed on the market for relocation.

Just steps from the museum’s south entrance, several dozen workers have been working on the project. So far, they've poured a concrete foundation on a site carved out of a mountain side. Project spokesperson Scott Eccleston, director of grounds and facilities at the museum, said the house is safely stored for the moment, but took rigorous documentation when taken apart. It will eventually be put back together, just as it was.

You can hear the full report by Jacqueline Froelich with Fayetteville station KUAF above.